Chile’s energy crisis

By Matthew Owens

Chile is in something of an energy crisis. In recent years (2010 & 2011) Chile has suffered from a number of power blackouts and although the cause of these were in some part due to technical problems, the disruption has prompted concern that shortages in supply could become a permanent feature in the Chilean grid. The South American country currently imports 65% of its energy needs and some 97% of its petroleum. 67% of electricity is produced by thermoelectric means, the other 33% coming from hydroelectric power. The Chilean Energy Strategy, unveiled earlier this year, seeks to address these problems, outlining several targets to be reached by 2030:

Little wonder then that successive govenments have pushed for the further development of hydroelectric power. The latest, and highly controvesial, project in Patagonian Aysén is backed by the current and unpopular President, Sebastián Piñera. The HydoAysén hydroelectric project proposes 5 dams in the Aysén Region, 2 on the Baker river and 3 on the river Pascua. The installations, in combination, are thought to be able to provide 2.5MW of power and outputting 18.43 GWh over the year. Nevertheless there have been many protests against the project on ecological grounds.

“Hidroaysen is a hydroelectric project that will build and operate five dams in the Chilean Patagonia, two in the Baker River and three in the Pascua River, flooding 5910 hectares, equivalent to the surface of Manhattan Island in New York. To provide energy for Santiago and new mining projects in the north of the country, Hidroaysen is looking to install 3800 towers, each 60 metres tall, over 2000 kms, making it one of the most extensive electric power lines in the world. It would join the interconnected central system at the Lo Prado Túnel, thus making its way through half of one of the longest countries in the world.”

Given that the successful operation of the dams requires the flooding of large swathes of Patagonian forest area, then, it is perhaps unsurprising that there has been noteable opposition from Greenpeace Chile:

Undoubtedly at least in part due to the civil unrest seen in the South and in Santiago, one of the HidroAysén partners Colbun recently froze their involvement in the project. However, the tensions seen in the country over the last year are perhaps not simply due to single issues, such as the Patagonian ecology, or the mishandling of the Aysén energy plans, but rather to a plethora of issues surrounding the future direction of the country. The President is forging a conservative programme in the country and clearly has many detractors currently, the student movement is largely anti-government and the green voice is strongly against. Furthermore, there is a view that the increase in power demands come in no small part from the mining industry in the north which, while productive for Chile, is often run by large foreign international consortiums. It could be that Colbun’s pullout reflects a fear of going down with an unpopular leader; they may resume their enthusiam for the project at a future date. The question remains, will the Chilean people be sufficiently placated with the inevitable replacement of Piñera, or will the opposition to the intertwined philosophies of neo-liberal politics and big business remain?